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Which type of wood for balustrade?

Hello!

I need to replace some bits of my balustrade, some of the white lower parts are very old and are rotting, all the green including the top rail are in great condition, please see the picture below.

I've never done anything like this but I really want to do it myself.

Which type of wood should I be using for the bottom rail and the round bars? I will be painting everything white like before.
Can anyone also tell me how it was built? the bottom bar is attached to the green posts with wooden bits sticking out (I apologize for not knowing the correct term). The round bars are fitting perfectly, it's very tight so how do you connect the bottom bar to the green posts with the round bars at the same time since I assume the bottom bar has to be raised higher than the wooden notches in order to slide it in.

I hope I'm making sense 😀

Thank you for your help !!

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Comments

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @TimeToFix. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about preparing balustrading.

Typically, a bottom rail would be constructed with 66 x 42mm 5.4m Baluster Bottom Rail H3 Pink Pine FJ Primed EBR4 LOSP and the upright balusters from 42 x 31mm 5.4m Baluster H3 Pink Pine FJ Primed EBR3 LOSP. If you want to retain the round dowels as the uprights, you could use Porta 28.6x28.6mm 3.0m Dowel Tasmanian Oak.

The bottom rails will be skew-nailed or screwed into the posts. This is just a long screw at an angle that gets driven through the rail into the post, fixing it in position. Once again, the balusters are nailed into the bottom rail to fit them in position. With your system, the bottom rail has likely had round holes drilled in it to suit the dowel, which is pushed into the holes. This would require the handrail to be removed to do so. Once the dowels are in position, the handrail can be re-installed.

Given the height of the balcony, installing the balustrading is something you really need to get right, so if you are not confident in giving this a go yourself, I suggest enlisting the services of a professional to assist.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

TimeToFix

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/36002#Comment_36002

Thank you so much for your reply Mitchell.

Yes It makes sense that the bottom rail was attached first, then the dowels put in and the top rail on top to finish as there are holes in both the bottom and top rail for the dowel with no screws visible, they are just floating in there but very tight.

I was hoping I could fix it as is without having to remove the top rail.

Thank you for the link to the right type of wood, very much appreciated.

😊

MitchellMc

How bad of a condition are the dowels and bottom rail in @TimeToFix? Are they starting to decay or could they be restored?

Mitchell

TimeToFix

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/36005#Comment_36005

Most of the dowels I can re-use, I think I will only need to replace a handfull at most. The bottom rail on two sections are extremely rotted and have been patched using some sort of silicon by the previous owner, they need to be fully replaced they are very soft in sections and can be easily broken.

So I will need to completely change two bottom rails only to start with. The rest of the ballustrade just needs to be cleaned properly and painted.

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